The night is restless. It's aspects prowl and skulk. Sleeping souls lie with no cognizance of the voyeurs, the tempters, the predators surrounding them.
A draugen, dead but still wandering in restlessness, may coax you from your bed, may lead you somnambulating to the slick treacherousness of a stony cove.
A mardrom, incarnation of the terrors in your dreams, may perch upon your lightly breathing chest, rising each time your lungs fill, while filling your unconsciousness with images of the most horrific nature.
A huldra of the forest may find her way to your bedside, doling torturous punishments for your failure to please her.
And so, with branches scraping your windows in the gale, with shadows prowling the darkness, with the weight of the midnight chill pressing upon you, you sleep in wait. You close your eyes only halfway, you listen to every pulse and creak. You somn vaken. You sleep awake.
In "Somn Vaken" Row Boat scores the mythos of the night's forgotten predators in its three tracks. The layered strings and winds attempt to lull you into the safety of sleep, while, in the background, a distant distortion warns you to fight the heaviness of your eyelids. Then appears the lonely tones, the gatekeepers to the twilight. This dark ambient album is available in CD as a limited edition of 50 prints.
